The first recorded successful appendicectomy was performed in 1735 at St George’s Hospital in London. It was for an 11-year-old boy, who had perforated his appendix by swallowing a pin.

But the modern era of surgery for appendicitis began in the US in 1889, when surgeon Charles McBurney expounded the principle of swift removal of the organ to avoid peritonitis.

Although the procedure has evolved and is now mainly laparoscopic, the paradigm of innovation has shifted to the use of antibiotics to spare patients from surgery.

Findings from the Finnish APPAC trial, published in 2015, demonstrated that most patients given a potent combination of antibiotics for uncomplicated appendicitis did not require appendicectomy 12 months after treatment.